Attack

“Attack the Block” was one of last year's best films and more evidence that we may be living in a new Golden Age of genre films - what might very loosely be referred to as B movies. The story concerns a group of London gang members and civilians who unite to fight off an alien invasion on Guy Fawkes Night. The aliens are furry, sharp-toothed monsters with glowing eyes; they may seem unbeatable, but they chose the wrong apartment project to invade. It's a nice enough transfer, with a strong sound mix. The package includes a lot of extras: Start with the three commentary tracks, all with writer/director Joe Cornish, talking to the teenage cast members, then with the older cast members, and finally with executive producer Edgar Wright, director of “Shaun of the Dead” and “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”.

Police arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly assaulting a man near Glendale Presbyterian Church downtown, officials said. City officials had obtained a restraining order this month against the man, Lance White, who must stay 100 yards away from the building in the 300 block of East Harvard Street, according to Glendale police. [For the Record March 14, 2013: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated the source of the stay away order to Glendale Presbyterian Church, but instead it was obtained by the City Attorney's Office.

A Glendale man who told police that he was high on a synthetic drug known as "bath salts" when he allegedly struck a woman with a shovel last week was charged Monday with first degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon. The man, 20-year-old Robert William White, was arrested Thursday after barricading himself inside his apartment. Officers were eventually able to subdue White after firing off a rubber bullet and Taser. As White was carried off and handcuffed to a chair, he yelled “God loves all of you” to bystanders.

Alecia Foster DOWNTOWN -- Four Los Angeles men were attacked recently by four others with baseball bats. The four L.A. men had just left the Galleria at about 6 p.m. and were driving south on Central Avenue when the attack on their car occurred. Four other men, between 18 and 21 years old, pulled up next to them, started shouting and asked what gang the men were from, a police report stated. Although the Los Angeles men said they were not from any gang, the four others continued to follow them.

GLENDALE — Five people charged with allegedly torturing and beating two loan agents attacked them inside their residential office on South Verdugo Road, police said Tuesday. Lamond Dean and Luis Garcia ran a loan modification business out of their Glendale office in the 400 block of South Verdugo Road, where the Oct. 20 attack occurred, police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. On the day of the attack, police got two separate reports of victims who had been injured during an assault, he said.

Gary Moskowitz Jimmy Orozco, a former co-worker whom slaying victim Raul Aguirre allegedly tried to defend the day he died, admitted in court Thursday to his own membership in a local Latino gang at the time of Aguirre's death. Orozco, 21, was one of three people to testify Thursday afternoon in the trial of the alleged killers of Aguirre, who was stabbed and beaten to death in front of Toll Middle School more than three years ago. Karen Terteryan, 21, and Rafael Gevorgyan, 18, faced their first day of testimony in the trial Sept.

Alecia Foster NORTHWEST GLENDALE -- Pictures of the World Trade Center taken shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks flashed across the computer screen. "When we first came to New York, this is what we looked at," Los Angeles City Fire Deputy Chief Mario Rueda said, showing a picture of smoke rising from the Manhattan skyline. He watched the scenes, along with a group of second-graders at Columbus Elementary School Thursday morning, and talked about his experiences with the relief effort there shortly after the attack.

Gary Moskowitz As the setting sun's rays dropped on East Colorado Boulevard on Friday evening, so did support of a possible Iraqi invasion. A group of Glendale and area residents gathered outside the National Guard Armory on Colorado Boulevard to conduct a peace vigil against President Bush's call for military action in Iraq. Vigil organizers Nancy Kent and Julianne Spillman, both Glendale residents, wanted local residents to know that there are people who do not support an attack of Iraq.

Jerry Bean, former publisher of the Valley Sun newspapers, suffered a mild heart attack last Friday while vacationing in Canada. Since the attack, Bean, publisher of the Century Group Newspapers, has been recovering in a hospital in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. He was scheduled to be moved to a hospital in Halifax this week for further examination and a possible angioplasty. Listed in good condition, Bean said he hoped to return to California in order to be installed today (Friday)

Amid the terror and mayhem that paralyzed one of the world’s largest cities last week, more than 170 people were brutally murdered by terrorists. Among those killed during the attack on Mumbai, India, were my colleague and dear friend, Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, and his wife, Rivkah, the directors of the local Chabad House. This was not only an attack on a rabbi or a Jewish center; it was an attack on anyone who — like the Holtzbergs — values the ideals of peace, goodness and kindness.

A 19-year-old Los Angeles man was stabbed twice in his arm, possibly by his brother, on Saturday near the Glendale Galleria, police said. The man, whose name wasn't released, told police he was jumped at about 8:32 p.m. and stabbed twice in the left arm by two men, but declined to talk about the incident, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. A witness, however, reported seeing something different. The witness told police the man was arguing and fighting with his brother inside a van just before officers arrived to the scene.

Two sisters who were fighting with each other on Saturday allegedly decided to take their rage out on a police officer by punching and kicking him, officials said. The sisters - Delmi Carranza, 21, and Patricia Carranza, 28 - were fighting and screaming at each other about 7:41 p.m. on the porch of a home in the 600 block of Arden Avenue, according to Glendale police. They were reportedly fighting because the father of Delmi Carranza's baby was allegedly having an affair with her sister.

A Glendale man was arrested Monday on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly kicked a 39-year-old man's head multiple times outside Dave's Bar, police said. The injured man, whose name wasn't released, remained hospitalized Tuesday at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he was treated for blunt force trauma to the head and face, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. The man's medical condition was not immediately available, he added. The man, who lives in La Crescenta, was lying unconscious on the sidewalk and was not verbally responsive when officers arrived at the bar near the corner of East Broadway and Glendale Avenue, police said.

The arraignment for a 27-year-old man who allegedly posed as medical professional to sexually assault an Illinois woman in Glendale after she replied to his Craigslist ad for a personal assistant was postponed on Wednesday, police said. Glendale police officials say Garry Dwayne Boga targeted women from the Midwest who were looking to breakout in Hollywood. Detectives also believe Boga may have other victims after they discovered a detailed list of young women, according to Sgt. Tom Lorenz.

An election framed largely by how the City Council should handle employee pensions and utility revenues saw both incumbents headed for re-election early Wednesday morning, along with a city commissioner who encountered his share of controversy on the campaign trail. City Clerk Ardy Kassakhian also appeared to have won re-election with a commanding lead over his sole challenger. With all precincts reporting, City Council members Laura Friedman and Ara Najarian appeared to hold on firmly to their seats after campaigns in which both preached a measured prescription of continuing to exert downward pressure on unions.

I have long been opposed to the $54 million that the Glendale City Council has spent on the Smart Meter program.  The city council approved the expansion of the Glendale Water & Power computing system on the recommendation of the former GWP manager. The cost approved to develop the entire system approved was in the neighborhood of $70 million, including the $17-million-cost of the new meters provided by the federal government. I contended that the city council did not have the expertise to understand the development costs for the software upgrades required to complete the entire Smart Meter System.  There are undoubtedly more costs on the horizon.

The perception of our affordable housing project in Glendale was clouded during the Rossmoyne Council Candidates Forum. The city bought the Geneva property several years before San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity was involved in the project. It was bought at the height of the housing market. Habitat for Humanity has built 34 homes for first-time homebuyers in seven locations in Glendale in the last 20 years. These homes provide affordable housing ownership that the southern Californian market desperately needs.

Police arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly assaulting a man near Glendale Presbyterian Church downtown, officials said. City officials had obtained a restraining order this month against the man, Lance White, who must stay 100 yards away from the building in the 300 block of East Harvard Street, according to Glendale police. [For the Record March 14, 2013: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated the source of the stay away order to Glendale Presbyterian Church, but instead it was obtained by the City Attorney's Office.

A 36-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he allegedly beat and yelled racial slurs at a worker from the temporary winter homeless shelter in Glendale, police said. Even as officers hauled the man, Jorge Tanchez, into their patrol car, he allegedly continued to yell racial slurs and threatened to kill the 56-year-old worker, whom police identified as a male Glendale resident. Saturday's incident marks the first hate crime of the year, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said. The city averages between three and five hate-related incidents per year, he added.

ARCADIA - Any time rival schools clash in league play, the stakes are raised regardless of the level of success of each program. But in the case of the Pacific League girls' water polo contest Thursday afternoon, visiting Crescenta Valley High's skill and execution trumped all other factors, as the Falcons dominated host Arcadia, 22-2. “[Arcadia] is our school's rival,” Falcon Katie Benson said. “So you have to go out there and prove it to our school that, yeah, we got this.